I. Field
The present application relates generally to the art of automotive vehicles, and more specifically to extensions for automotive vehicle beds, including pickup truck beds employing a rear door or gate such as a tailgate.
II. Description of the Related Art
Certain popular automotive vehicles provide flat beds at or near the rear of the vehicle, typically enclosed by side panels and a tailgate. Pickup trucks are the most common consumer vehicles having a rear bed, and consumers use pickup trucks to carry relatively large loads that could not fit in other types of passenger vehicles such as sedans or hatchbacks. A certain consumer market segment prefers smaller vehicles, but some of those consumers would prefer to have a bed with the vehicle and occasionally or even regularly transport large items such as motorcycles, large appliances, building materials, and so forth. Most existing pickup trucks have fairly lengthy beds, on the order of 6 to 8 feet in length, and accommodate relatively large loads. However, such vehicles are sometimes perceived by certain consumers as being too large for their specific needs.
While vehicles can be designed with shorter beds, a shorter bed limits the size of transportable load. Additionally, consumers frequently rely on the tailgate of the vehicle to fold down and act as a loading platform, step, and general support surface such that hundreds of pounds of weight can at times be supported by the open tailgate, and any vehicle design employing a fold-down tailgate or door must support a large amount of weight. Consumers expect the tailgate to maintain on the order of hundreds of pounds of weight, in some instances more than 500 pounds. An automotive vehicle with a short vehicle bed and an open tailgate that cannot support 500 pounds or an object over four or five feet in length will likely have very limited appeal to the general public.
It would therefore be beneficial to provide an automotive vehicle design that offers a relatively short bed in a smaller overall sized vehicle, while at the same time providing a functional tailgate according to customer expectation and an ability to carry relatively large and heavy loads, i.e. loads greater than five feet in length and/or large in comparison to the size of the vehicle bed. It would also be beneficial to provide a vehicle design that addresses consumer desires while at the same time overcoming issues present in previous short vehicle bed designs.